BJP using muscle, money, Modi to influence RS poll: Congress

New Delhi, Aug 2 (IANS) The Congress on Wednesday said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is using all its might including “muscle power, money power and Modi power” to influence the Rajya Sabha election in Gujarat.

“The BJP is using manpower, muscle power, money power and even Modi power to cow down Congress MLAs in Gujarat. This is not good for democracy,” Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said while speaking with the media here.

Referring to the Income Tax Department (IT) raid at the Bengaluru resort where 44 Gujarat MLAs are staying, Kharge said it was done deliberately to “terrorise the MLAs so that they do not support the Congress candidate (Ahmed Patel)”.

He said the IT officials searched “at least four rooms” at the resort and also asked questions to some of the MLAs about their presence there.

“They created a tamasha at the resort to create panic among the Congress MLAs. But there is no doubt that Ahmed Patel is winning with a comfortable margin,” Kharge said.

The senior Congress leader also questioned the timing of the raid, saying what was the hurry to conduct the raid now.

“They have not been able to explain what was the urgency in conducting the raid on Wednesday. D.K. Shivakumar does not live in that resort. His home is elsewhere. If they were searching him they should have gone to his house,” he said.